GPL May Be Tested in Israeli Courts Sep 6, 2006, 13 :30 UTC (1 Talkback[s]) (5240 reads)
Ars Technica: Dispute Over GPL Could Be Headed to Court
"Israeli open source software developer Alexander Maryanovsky has filed a lawsuit against international master chess player Alexander Rabinovich alleging that the chess player and his organization have violated the GPL. According to Maryanovsky, it started when Rabinovich started a company, International Chess University (IChessU), with the intention of teaching chess to students over the Internet using interactive software. Rather than develop a framework from scratch, Rabinovich decided to use Jin, Maryanovsky's network chess client application. Maryanovsky offered Rabinovich a $4,000 license that would facilitate proprietary redistribution. Rabinovich turned down the licensing offer, and said that IChessU would use the program and simply comply with the terms of the GPL..."
"About half a year ago, I was approached by a Mr. Alexander Rabinovich, who is an Israeli (I'm in Israel too) international master. He told me that his start-up, the International Chess University, is working on developing a chess server and a client, and asked whether I am available to help them.
"Unfortunately, (or, in retrospect, fortunately) I was too busy finishing my CS degree at the time, so I told him that I could not help. I also told him that there was no need to develop a client from scratch--he could simply use Jin..."
